Best Day Trips from New Orleans Under Three Hours

New Orleans, Louisiana, is a fantastic city to visit with loads of things to do — and eat — on even an extended stay. If you want to get out of town, though, there’s no shame in leaving the French Quarter for some fun on the best day trips from New Orleans. 

We’ve spent a full month and then some in New Orleans, one of our favorite American cities. You can dig into this guide with confidence that what you’ll read isn’t some robot nonsense.

If I don’t like something, by the way, I always say so!

Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve

Distance: 6 miles+
Drive Time: 20 minutes+

The Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve is made up of several sites in one. Several of those sites are part of the Atchafalaya National Heritage Area, a region of 14 different Louisiana parishes that showcase the state’s rich Cajun history. 

We were staying in Arabi, Louisiana, during our month in New Orleans, so we were within jogging distance of the Chalmette Battlefield.

Fun fact: Brian literally ran there a few times. I did not.

The battlefield is the site of the Battle of New Orleans in 1815. Visits on the property are self-guided with interpretive signage along the way.

Don’t miss the exhibits inside the visitor’s center and the two short films that will give you a background on the site before you head out.

Here’s a bit on the other sites that are part of this system of parks:

• Barataria Preserve: Experience the wild Louisiana wetlands over 26,000 acres just half an hour from the city. If you time things right, you can link up with a guided ranger walk for more information on the flora and fauna you may see.
• Wetlands Acadian Cultural Center: Book ​​boat tours of Bayou Lafourche and learn about the Cajun culture along Louisiana’s bayous at this site, about an hour and 15 minutes from the city.
• Acadian Cultural Center: You’ll need to head out to Lafayette, just over two hours drive, to see this site. This history museum tells the story of the groups who settled here, including the Acadians, or Louisiana’s Cajuns.
• Prairie Acadian Cultural Center: This center is about three hours away, and it tells the story of how the cultures of the Cajun and Creole people blended with the cowboys to create something distinct in the Louisiana prairies.

Lake Pontchartrain Causeway

Distance: 28 miles
Drive Time: 20 minutes

If you’re seeking short trips from New Orleans, taking a drive down the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway is an easy undertaking. That’s unless you’re afraid of record-breaking bridges.

I’m mostly kidding. It’s not as bad as many people say. I’ve got it all detailed in my guide to the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway. 

Expand your day with a visit to any of the small towns and New Orleans suburbs on either side of the bridge. Mandeville is just over the bridge and adjacent to Fontainebleau State Park, another recommended stop on this list.

Keep reading for a highlight in Abita Springs, another fun town with a great brewery and a whole lotta mystery.

Swamp Tours

Distance: 37 miles+
Drive Time: 45 minutes+

A popular day trip from New Orleans is a swamp tour in any of the surrounding waterways. Manchac Swamp and the mossy bayous near Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve are popular options. 

We made our booking through Dr. Wagner’s Honey Island Swamp Tours, one of the original swamp tours in the area.

I’ve done swamp trips in New Orleans before, but years before this last attempt. I remember guides back then feeding the gators marshmallows and other treats to get them to come up to the boats, snapping their jaws at passengers.

Well, it’s still a thing that happens.

I don’t love that we’re getting creatures with that many teeth so comfy with humans. While we only saw a little guy on our trip, our guide was also throwing treats at the raccoons who came by to visit us, too. Was it cute as heck? Of course, it was.

Do I love that all of these critters are associating humans with treats? Not especially. 

I do love that they employ locals for that added color on your boat tour, even if we’re being told that swimming with gators is perfectly safe. What if the gators mistake those little toes for marshmallows? I’m not here to find out.

INFINITY Science Center

Distance: 45 miles
Drive Time: 50 minutes

The INFINITY Science Center is just over the border in Pearlington, Mississippi. While a visit there no longer includes a bus trip out to NASA’s Stennis Space Center, it’s still a neat place to see if you’re looking for options for kids or science nerds.

I don’t have kids, but I do have Brian.

My only beef was that the center is a little organizationally crazy. They don’t have the staff to deal with large school groups, something we quickly realized when we had to share a line for gift shop trinkets and tickets to get into the exhibits.

Note: I don’t usually say this, but a weekend visit may be preferable for this one.

Highlights included the outdoor Biome Boardwalk, the Saturn V rocket, and the 3D theater. For just a few more dollars, you can watch short 3D movies inside.

Ours was about predators, and I found it a great way to escape from the middle schoolers elsewhere in the exhibit spaces.

While it’s not the Kennedy Space Center, it’s an excellent place to spend a nerdy afternoon as you ponder road trips from New Orleans.

Fontainebleau State Park

Distance: 40 miles
Drive Time: 50 minutes

We enjoyed a brief visit to Fontainebleau State Park as part of a longer afternoon in nearby Abita Springs. It’s lovely, and I can imagine spending more time there in the warmer months as a beach trip from New Orleans.

Stretch your legs on the 1.6-mile Fontainebleau Nature Trail. You’ll see some interpretative signs along the way letting you know more about the plants you’re looking at. 

We missed out on one of the more popular spur trails on this one, the Alligator Boardwalk, as it was still being repaired following Hurricane Ida’s damage. The 3.7-mile Cane Bayou Trail looks perfect for those with more time.

The state park has an entry fee of a few dollars per person. When you park, you’ll see ruins of a sugar mill at the visitor center.

Fun fact: Those ruins are remnants of a mill built here in 1829 by Bernard de Marigny de Mandeville. The nearby town of Mandeville was named after him, so you know he’s a big deal in these parts.

Whitney Plantation

Distance: 46 miles
Drive Time: 50 minutes

I wasn’t that interested in a plantation tour while we were in New Orleans until I read about the Whitney Plantation. It’s the only one of its kind in the state dedicated to the history of slavery on the site.

The tour at this one is self-guided. You can download a guide on your phone or use one of their audio devices to hear stories from historians and descendants of slaves who worked the sugar, rice, and indigo fields here.

You’ll walk through original slave cabins and the Big House, or the main house. One of the most moving stops was The Wall of Honor, a memorial dedicated to all of the enslaved people who worked the plantation over the years.

You’ll read accounts from those slaves, and the often matter-of-fact descriptions of abuse that was both physical and mental.

Additional exhibits inside describe the plantation’s more recent history all the way up to 1975, the year it was abandoned as an operational plantation.

While it wasn’t slaves working the fields then, many of the workers post-emancipation were descendants of slaves who worked there before slavery was outlawed.

Low wages and garnished wages for food, clothing, and other necessities made it difficult for any of the free men and women to leave. They essentially entered into an agreement with plantation owners that was slavery by another name.

Note: If you’re interested in a visit, book tickets online ahead of time. I imagine it gets busy on weekends, although it was fairly empty when we arrived on an overcast weekday morning.

Abita Mystery House

Distance: 44 miles
Drive Time: 1 hour

Babydolls with gator heads. Aliens in lockup. A career counseling machine that told me I should be a bass fisher(wo)man.

It’s all waiting for you at the Abita Mystery House in Abita Springs.

This is the ultimate roadside attraction. Run by Louisiana inventor and artist John Preble, this place comes together thanks to over 50,000 found and recycled objects. You truly just have to visit for yourself to see.

Give them a call or check their Facebook page to see if they’re open. It’s only a few dollars to visit, and I promise it’s worth every penny. You pay as you exit, just in case you want to take anything home with you from the attached gift shop.

Give your visit that well-rounded feel with a visit to the Abita Brewing Company afterward. It’s just down the street, and you’ll want to talk about what you saw in there.

To make a day out of it, drive over the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway to get there.

The Mississippi Gulf Coast

Distance: 60 miles+
Drive Time: 1 hour 10 minutes +

This is where Louisianians go to party…beach party style. Here are a few of the Gulf Coast destinations you can choose from along the Mississippi coast:

• Bay St. Louis: Go on a ghost ride or take a walking tour of filming sites for the Robert Redford classic This Property Is Condemned in charming Bay St. Louis. You can be there in about an hour and 10 minutes from New Orleans.
• Gulfport: Charter a fishing boat, spend the afternoon at Jones Park, and snap a pic of that giant rocking chair. This one is about an hour and 20 minutes from New Orleans.
• Biloxi: Head up to the Biloxi Lighthouse, find some nighttime intrigue along the boardwalk, or hit the casinos. Biloxi is about an hour and 30 minutes from New Orleans.
• Ocean Springs: Ocean Springs is part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore, home to blissful beaches, impressive stargazing, and a variety of marine wildlife. You’ll get there in about an hour and 30 minutes.
• Ship Island: Ship Island requires a bit more effort, as you can’t simply drive there. You’ll need to get to Gulfport, first. From there, catch a ferry before getting to the island’s white sand beaches and Fort Massachusetts, built after the War of 1812.

READ MORE: Love the idea of a longer road trip in the Deep South? Use my two-week itinerary to help you plan.

Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Distance: 81 miles
Drive Time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Baton Rouge has two state capitol buildings for you to check out — both are designated as national historic landmarks, which is pretty impressive — and “beignet fingers.”

If you’re not sold on it yet, the town also boasts a tiger on the Louisiana State University campus. It’s true. Mike the Tiger lives in a nearly $1 million enclosure, so it’s definitely upgraded digs over what you usually see at the local zoo. 

He purred at us, and now I want one. I’m not going to get one, obviously. Kimmy loves cats but it’s not mutual.

Sold on this one? Check out my detailed guide to our trip to Baton Rouge.

Mississippi River Towns

Distance: 86 miles+
Drive Time: 1 hour 30 minutes +

The Mississippi River cuts through 10 different states in the middle of the United States over 3,000 miles.

New Orleans is well-situated as the terminus of the river, but you’ll be within a short drive of river towns along the Great River Road if you’re feeling ambitious.

Baton Rouge, St. Francisville, Plaquemine, Vidalia, and Venice are all within driving distance. I’ve highlighted Baton Rouge already, but here’s more on the rest:

• Plaquemine: Drive over the Horace Wilkinson Bridge, see the historic homes of downtown, or marvel at the engineering of the Plaquemine Lock State Historic Site. This town is just a little over an hour and a half from the city.
• St. Francisville: Explore the remote waterways of the Tunica Hills Wildlife Management Area, stroll the Afton Villa Gardens, or go on a ghost tour at the Myrtles Plantation in this town in the West Feliciana Parish two hours north.
• Venice: You don’t need to fly all the way out to Italy to experience Venice. This Venice in Plaquemines Parish is known for stellar fishing and its resiliency as an “end of the world” destination. Get there in about an hour and 35 minutes.
• Vidalia: Vidalia is approaching a three-hour drive from New Orleans, but it’s worth a stop if you’re following the river. Walk the riverfront to get a feel for this small town.

Extend your trip by following the river north into Mississippi, Arkansas, and even Tennessee.

READ MORE: Love the sound of that? Check out my guide to Hot Springs National Park.

Bayou la Batre, Alabama

Distance: 139 miles
Drive Time: 2 hours 10 minutes

We took a day trip out to Bayou La Batre during our stay in nearby Mobile, but it’s still easy enough if you’re planning road trips from New Orleans.

Our motivation to do so was simple. Bayou La Batre was the hometown of Benjamin Buford “Bubba” Blue in Forrest Gump.

I love a good pop culture reference.

I put together a guide to Bayou La Batre, but visits here are more about taking in the atmosphere. Stroll past the fishing boats at the harbor, plan a fishing trip yourself, or shuck some oysters at Murder Point Oysters.

I don’t actually like oysters, but Brian does. I let him have this.

Mobile, Alabama

Distance: 144 miles
Drive Time: 2 hours 10 minutes

We didn’t travel to Mobile on a day trip from New Orleans, choosing instead to stay there a week after our New Orleans jaunt. It’s basically a mini New Orleans, just in case you want to visit places around New Orleans that are just like it.

Here are a few highlights from our stay:

• Mobile Carnival Museum: I have zero interest in large crowds, but I do have an interest in learning more about party culture. The costumes in this place are wild.
• Langan (Municipal) Park: This lovely green space is an urban oasis. Just don’t get triggered by all of the people feeding the birds while you’re there.
• The Cheese Cottage: What can I say? I’m a sucker for cheese, wine, and places that combine the two. This was my favorite spot in all of Mobile.
• Meaher State Park: We didn’t see any gators on our visit, but the boardwalk here offers some fantastic delta views regardless.
• Squid Ink: This eatery was recommended to us by two Mobile residents, and it did not disappoint. Can everything come on a potato bun, please?

If you want to spend more than a day, this one is a great option for weekend trips from New Orleans!

Dauphin Island, Alabama

Distance: 154 miles
Drive Time: 2 hours 30 minutes

Dauphin Island is an easy addition to day trips that already include Bayou La Batre. Cross the Dauphin Island Bridge and there you are. That’s what we did on our visit. Historic Fort Gaines is the big draw here, but the beaches here are quite popular, too.

While at the fort, you’ll be able to see the original cannons used in the Battle of Mobile Bay during the American Civil War, complete with live reenactments if you’re lucky.

Fairhope, Alabama

Distance: 162 miles
Drive Time: 2 hours 40 minutes

This charming Alabama town on Mobile Bay is ideal on a sunny day. Visit Fairhope Municipal Pier, the town’s fishing pier and general gathering place. Walk the trails of North Beach Park. Sip on pints at the Fairhope Brewing Company.

It’s a great place to have a relaxing time, especially if you’re in New Orleans during a busy time of year.

We took Kimmy on our own trip to Fairhope and found the town quite dog-friendly, too.

Jackson, Mississippi

Distance: 186 miles
Drive Time: 2 hours 50 minutes

If the traffic is in your favor, you can get to Jackson in under three hours, but it’s really best-suited for a weekend from New Orleans.

I’ve only been to Jackson briefly to check out the bookshop scene there — Jackson has an impressive literary history — so I definitely owe this city a deeper visit.

The Mississippi State Capitol, Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, and Eudora Welty House & Garden are all at the top of my list.

More Day Trips from New Orleans

Even with a full month in New Orleans, you can’t see everything there is to see within a few hours of the city. Exploring things to do in New Orleans alone will take a good chunk of time.

Here are a few more things to do outside of New Orleans that are still on our list:

• Oak Alley Plantation (53 miles/1 hour): This is one of the most popular plantations near New Orleans. Just keep in mind that sometimes there’s some ugliness associated with pretty things, too.
• Houma (58 miles/1 hour 10 minutes): This is Louisiana’s bayou country. Book a fishing adventure, go wildlife-spotting at the Mandalay National Wildlife Refuge, or continue driving north to see the Magnolia Plantation.
• De Soto National Forest (102 miles/1 hour 35 minutes): You’ll need to head into Mississippi for this one, but it’s a great city escape for the adventurous sort. Start at the Black Creek National Scenic River. It stretches for about 30 miles.
• Grand Isle State Park (110 miles/2 hours 15 minutes): The barrier island in Louisiana’s Jefferson Parish is big on fishing and birding. The second of which is highlighted during the annual Grand Isle Migratory Bird Celebration.
• New Iberia, Louisiana (133 miles/2 hours 15 minutes): This is where you’ll find Lake Peigneur, the deepest lake in Louisiana, and the Bayou Teche, a waterway of over 135 miles. It’s easy to combine with Avery Island.
• Avery Island (138 miles/2 hours 25 minutes): The island is less known for its geological importance as a giant salt dome and more for what originated here: Tabasco hot sauce.
• Natchez, Mississippi (176 miles/2 hours 55 minutes): This historic city on the Natchez Trace Parkway is known for its antebellum mansions. It has more of them than any other place in the United States.

Where to Stay in New Orleans

We stayed at a long-term rental that I wouldn’t recommend during our month in New Orleans. There were fleas in the yard! That doesn’t mean I don’t have recommendations for you.

Use the map below for comfortable New Orleans hotels and apartments after you’re done with your day trips:

New Orleans is a great base for day trips.

Towns on either side of the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, swamp tours, Fontainebleau State Park, and the Whitney Plantation are all easy to get to from New Orleans.

That’s just a taste of where you can go with NOLA as your base. Cities along the sunny Gulf Coast, historic forts, and foodie adventures await if you budget time for New Orleans day trips.

I’ve spent extensive time in the region, and it still doesn’t feel like enough. I’m sure we’ll be back, both for New Orleans and the charm of its people and Garden District, and the day trip potential for things to do near New Orleans.